Detroit Rock City
Photo: The Canadian Press
It turns out those obituaries for Hockeytown, USA were premature. That suggestion - along with a couple pernicious fallacies have been cast aside. If you follow hockey you know exactly what I’m talking about: the ones that said European players like Hank Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk couldn’t compete at the highest level, and that a European captain simply didn’t have what it takes to lead a team to the Stanley Cup because Euros just don’t care about the Stanley Cup the way
Too European? Too old? Too small? Too light? I know lots of hockey fans don’t like Detroit because that’s just how it works when a team has been successful for a long period of time. But this team, particularly with the salary cap that forced the Wings to play on a level playing field, should earn the team some small measure of grudging respect because they dashed so many preconceived notions.
The one criticism that was valid was that the team needed to become grittier in order to have success in the playoffs. They were able to accomplish that from within as well as by signing free agents like Darren McCarty and Dallas Drake [boy was I wrong about his acquisition], and through a key trade [bringing Brad Stuart on board, who was sensational during the Finals].
With their 4th Stanley Cup championship in 11 years the Red Wings have joined select company. How select? Let’s just take a look and see:
New England Patriots – three Super Bowl championships this decade
San Antonio Spurs – four NBA championships in 9 seasons
New York Yankees – four World Series championships since 1996
So it’s time to acknowledge what the Detroit Red Wings really are: a dynasty. Here were the championship runs of the last two dynasties in the NHL.
Edmonton Oilers – five Stanley Cup championships
New York Islanders – four Stanley Cup championships
The Stanley Cup is the most difficult championship to win in all of professional team sports, and Game 5 was a perfect example that proved that’s the case. Devastating injuries to Niklas Kronwall and Mathieu Schneider last season proved that too, when Detroit gave Anaheim all they could handle. Mike Babcock said recently that he wondered if the team would win one game in the series against Anaheim last season after Schneider was done for the rest of the playoffs. Instead the Red Wings gave the Ducks their most difficult challenge before bowing out in 6 games in the Western Conference Finals.
Going back to that series last year against Anaheim, here’s what I said about head coach Mike Babcock after the series ended.
…I wasn’t concerned about Detroit’s ability to compete with the Ducks. That wasn’t the case in previous playoff losses to Anaheim following the 2002-03 season, Calgary following the 2003-04 season, or Edmonton last year. So suffice it to say I think Mike Babcock deserves a lot of credit for how the team performed both during the regular season and in the playoffs. I can honestly say there isn’t a coach in the NHL I’d rather have than Mike Babcock.
There is a small matter at hand of signing the head coach to a new contract. But the coach and general manager Ken Holland have said they expect to get a deal done once the season ends. Team owner Mike Illitch has always rewarded people who perform so there’s every reason to expect Babcock to be highly-compensated for what has been an excellent three-year run in Detroit. No other coach in NHL history has ever had 50 win seasons in his first three years at the helm. Add in three trips to the conference finals over his NHL career, two trips to the Stanley Cup finals and one championship and Babcock has proven there’s no better coach for the Detroit Red Wings.
At the start of the playoffs I said that I think this team bears some similarities to the 2001-02 team that brought the Stanley Cup back to Detroit most recently. James Mirtle recently posted some stats that show the comparison is a valid one.
It’s fitting that Nick Lidstrom is the first European captain to take the Stanley Cup from the commissioner and lift it in triumph. The best defenseman of his generation, he’s accomplished just about everything possible: Norris trophies, becoming the first European Conn Smythe trophy winner, and captaining a Stanley Cup champion. Oh he’ll never win the Hart – that’s reserved for the leading scorer in the NHL or the occasional goalie. He’s made history time after time and he’s done it with grace while exhibiting the type of character you’d expect from a captain following in the footsteps of Steve Yzerman.
And now a word to the fans in the Detroit area: I can understand losing interest in this team when they were bowing out in the first or second round and when Steve Yzerman retired and Brendan Shanahan left town. But understand this: Hank Zetterberg is every bit as good as Sergei Fedorov was in his prime and Pavel Datsyuk is as good a two-way player as Steve Yzerman. Both players make up 2/3 of the greatest line in the NHL and make the Red Wings the most entertaining game in town [yes, that includes Auburn Hills].
I am not going to pull a Mitch Albom and lecture you on how you should spend your money. But please give this team a chance and watch them when they are on television. I’m not asking you to spend a dime. Just watch them when you can for free and I’m confident you will love these guys the way you loved the Captain, Shanny and Feds. They are that damn good.
As for younger guys that aren’t household names there are plenty. Let’s start off with Niklas Kronwall, the young defenseman who has battled injuries before having a breakout season this year. He hits like Ernie Sims does, like Miguel Cabrera should, like Vladomir Konstantinov used to, and he’s an excellent offensive defenseman as well. He will be a fan favorite for years to come.
Johan Franzen started off slowly before going on the biggest goal-scoring streak in the league in March, one that carried on into the playoffs. The only thing that could cool him off was persistent headaches that resulted in him missing 6 games during the Western Conference and Stanley Cup Finals. He is the player most likely to replace Brendan Shanahan as the power forward on the team. The Mule is the exact same size as Shanny and potted 27 goals during the regular season and added 13 more goals during the playoffs.
Valtteri Filppula, the first Finn in Red Wings history, has done such a good job Detroit decided to sign another Finn named Ville Leino. A defensive forward in the mold of Hank Zetterberg, he narrowly missed having his first 20 goal season. Next season Filppula and Jiri Hudler should have a breakout offensive campaign and register anywhere between 20-30 goals.
Brian Rafalski is perhaps the quintessential Red Wing, similar to Doug Brown who was an honorary member of the Russian 5. Born in Dearborn, deemed too small to get drafted into the NHL, he developed his game in Europe before coming back to North America to play in the NHL. It would have been a great story if his goal in Game 5 would have been the Cup clincher, but he potted the first goal last night and has more than replaced Mathieu Schneider.
Those are just a few of the stories on the members of this Stanley Cup champion team.
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